Carnegie Mellon University is a private institution of higher learning founded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Founded in 1900, Carnegie Mellon is based on a 143-acre main campus in the urban atmosphere of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In the academic year that began in the Fall of 2009, CMU had an enrollment of more than 6,000 undergraduate students. Carnegie Mellon University ranked number 23 in the US News and World Report Best Colleges list for 2011.http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/pittsburgh-pa/carnegie-mellon-university-3242

In 2006, Newsweek included Carnegie Mellon University as one of the new elite colleges that can compare to Ivy League member institutions in terms of providing students first-rate academics and faculties. The "25 New Ivies" were selected on the basis of their admissions statistics, as well as interviews with their faculty, students, administrators and alumni.

According to Newsweek, Carnegie Mellon University is a major national research university that offers academic diversity. Reportedly, its College of Fine Arts drama program was described to be the "most competitive" in its field in terms of admissions. Engineering was the most favorite major, though Business was catching up. From 1995 to 2006 alone, more than 170 companies were created or spun off at Carnegie Mellon University, demonstrating its qualification as a laboratory for entrepreneurship. As of 2006, 15 CMU faculty members and alumni had been awarded Nobel prizes. Newsweek listed Cornell University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology as general rivals of Carnegie Mellon. CMU's business program was put at par with that of the University of Pennsylvania. Carnegie Mellon University music majors were also compared to those of Juilliard and the Eastman School.http://www.newsweek.com/2006/08/20/25-new-ivies.html